Newbie needs to sync 2 blackface ADATs ... Help!

V

vitamin worm

New member
Thats right. I dont know much about recording but I have 2 black face ADATs and would like to sync them up to make one 16 track recording beast. Does anybody care to help me out?

What would I have to buy in order to make that work?

Thanks a lot!

-VW
 
Not true at all!

You can use ANY 9 pin D Sub cable and it will work. In a pinch, or to add another machine in the mix in the past, I have used computer monitor cables to do this, and it worked just fine thanks! :) But make sure it has all 9 pins connected. Some older computer monitor cables had a pin or two missing. Anyway....

worm, all's you have to do is connect the cable from the deck you want to be the "first" decks Sync Out to the "second" decks Sync In and away you go. Do be surprised if at times the machines take up to 5 secs to sync up. The Play lights will quit flashing when they are in sync. This is important to remember because any recording will not start until the machines are in sync. In some extreme cases, the machine might take longer to sync up. There are many reasons that it could take longer than 5 seconds, and none of them are usually good. All in all though, the sync should work just fine. When you rewind to a songs beginning, make sure you have the tape Start about 7 or 8 seconds before any audio starts. I usually did 10 seconds if the new audio I was recording started right at the beginning of the song.

Good luck.

Ed
 
Sorry Ed, I have to disagree....

I was stuck once needing sync cable, none of the pro audio places had any in stock....

In desparation I tried standard 9-pin, wired properly from a basic computer store, it was neither shielded nor grounded......... did not work at all....

I found a computer store that had the same cable (same brand/style) but it WAS specified as shielded and grounded... I bought it and it worked fine.........

I called Stan Jacox at Studio Maintenance Center sometime later and he confirmed with me that the shielding and grounding is DEFINITELY a requirement.

The stock 9-pin stuff at computer stores generally is NOT up to that spec unless it is mentioned specifically on the packaging.....
 
Well, my first mistake is that I used a Serial cable. NOT a monitor D Sub connector cable.

Other than that, I have bought off the shelf cables that have worked just fine. They weren't terribly expensive, but to tell you the truth, I guess I never checked to see if they were shielded/grounded. Maybe they were.

Okay, they need to be shielded/grounded! :)

Ed
 
hmmm.... not to continue the arguement... but I believe they actually only need to be grounded :) Not shielded.

(that would make you both half right)

I needed a long cable in a pinch for my BRC to my ADATS... so I used a pair cheapo Crap Shack serial ends and soldered in two runs of normal (non-shielded) cat-5 network cable (hey... its what I had that was long enough... of course I had to use two because I needed 10 wires - 9 + ground)... I *did* solder a lead to the shell of the end on both ends (to get ground), but there was no shield... and it worked great.

BTW - I should state that this is NOT the correct way nor is it recommended... but hey it worked in a pinch.

Velvet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top